Gardasil Vaccine, Katie Couric and Cyber-Lynching

Originally posted here:
http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/January-2014/Gardasil-Vaccine-and-Katie-Couric.aspx



The public flogging of veteran broadcast journalist Katie Couric began on Dec. 4, 2013, immediately after a 17-minute report on HPV and Gardasil vaccine was broadcast on her TV talk show “Katie.”1  It was kick-started by a west coast business writer, who administered the first lash with a bizarre take-down of freedom of the press:

“The real punch of the show was its portrayal of HPV vaccination as “controversial,” he charged.” Merely to ask questions is to validate them.” He ended with a sucker punch: “Katie Couric established her credibility as a spokeswoman for preventive medicine more than a decade ago...now she’ll be known for promoting junk medicine instead.”2

“Is Katie Couric The Next Jenny McCarthy?”

Then, like piranhas in a fish tank full of fresh chum, an online clique of mean girls and bully boys let Katie have it right between the eyes.

“Is Katie Couric the next Jenny McCarthy?” sneered a headline for an article in which a cub reporter sharpened her claws on Couric’s credibility by hissing “The damage a former Playboy Bunny has been able to do is bad enough. But Couric’s misdeeds are all the worse given that she’s taken much more seriously than Jenny McCarthy.”3

Continuing with that lame theme, an entertainment writer stuck it to Katie when she suggested that “To some, Couric's behavior is even more problematic than McCarthy's, given her stature as a respected journalist and former network news anchor, as well as her previous efforts to educate the public about the fight against cancer.”4

One headline screamed “Katie Couric Hands Over Her Show to Anti-Vaccine Alarmists”5  and another one gasped “Why is Katie Couric Promoting Vaccine Skeptics?” followed by an article written by a photojournalist sniping that “Couric needs to review her priorities.”6

Katie Couric: Presenting HPV Information & Perspective

Katie’s unforgiveable transgression? On her afternoon talk show, she gave two mothers, who had witnessed their daughters’ health suddenly deteriorate after Gardasil shots, an opportunity to speak about what happened.7 8  She gave an international HPV infection expert,9  who participated in Gardasil vaccine clinical trial research, an opportunity to comment about the effectiveness of Gardasil vaccine and the need for all girls – whether they get vaccinated or not – to get regular pap screening.10 She gave a pediatrician an opportunity to encourage parents to vaccinate their 11-year old boys and girls because “HPV vaccine does not seem to be any risker than any of the other vaccines we routinely use;” 11 12 and Katie gave a mother and her daughter an opportunity to enthusiastically endorse the vaccine. 13

Katie Couric presented information and a range of perspectives about a current topic being discussed by millions of parents and young women in homes and doctors’ offices across the country. She did it because she is an intellectually honest journalist, a compassionate mother and cancer prevention pioneer. Fourteen years ago, Katie Couric almost single handedly put a human face on the importance of colonoscopy screening, especially for those at high risk when she publicly witnessed about the tragedy of losing her husband and the father of her children to colon cancer. 14 After a long and successful career in broadcast journalism, in 2006 she became the first woman to anchor the evening news on a major U.S. TV network. 15

An Orchestrated Campaign of Intimidation

The shaming of Katie Couric for caring and daring to ask questions about Gardasil vaccine, was a well-orchestrated campaign of intimidation. It was a warning delivered to all journalists that – no matter who you are – your character will be assassinated if you step out of line and question the safety or effectiveness of a government recommended vaccine.

The cyber lynch mob 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 presenting opinion as unassailable fact delighted in quoting each other and did not reserve their vitriol for Katie. Two mothers on the show were ridiculed for describing their daughters’ Gardasil vaccine reaction symptoms, which are similar to those reported by many, many others in the U.S. and around the world.23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 The credentialed Gardasil vaccine researcher 44 on the show was attacked for stating that regular pap tests are the most reliable way of detecting and preventing cervical cancer regardless of vaccination, a position held by cancer prevention experts. 45 46 47

KEEP READING, here:
http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/January-2014/Gardasil-Vaccine-and-Katie-Couric.aspx